Wake Up Call
by JohnLegbert
Summary: Nearly a decade after the Lyoko Warriors shut the supercomputer off for good, graduated and continued their lives, three kids stumble upon the factory and get curious about what's inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Quick Note: The time setting of this story is assuming that the original series (not counting Evolution) took place in the early 2000s, and that this story takes place around this time period (2014). **

**Chapter 1**

**Urban Exploration**

My breath fogged in front of me as I pulled my jacket over the rest of my freezing torso. Alia flicked on her flashlight, casting a pale band of white light across the darkened bridge to the factory entrance. Isaac, standing next to me, followed suit, his miniscule torch shining maybe half as bright as Alia's did. The crisp night wind bit through my thin gloves when I pulled them from the jacket to turn my light on as well.

"You guys ready?" Alia spoke through her painters mask, eyeing the makeshift barricades guarding the otherwise wide open doorway.

Isaac smiled and nodded, holding his flashlight under his face in traditional campfire story fashion, giving his expression an eerie glow. I gave her a vaguely affirmative grunt, and we began to walk to the entrance.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" I asked Alia.

"Come on Alan, it's a big old abandoned factory! What isn't cool about that?" she responded.

"Crumbling foundation, unsafe flooring, feral animals, oh, yeah, and asbestos."

"Well, true. But we have stuff for that. Also, we could get some cool pictures!"

"Yeah, and I will give you credit for this one, it looks pretty easy to get into."

Alia shone her light on the concrete barriers that lined the entrance, and easily climbed over them, motioning for us to follow. Isaac scrambled over them in no time, leaving me and my awkwardly lanky frame to struggle over the angular mounds of rock. I tripped and fell over the last set of barriers, scuffing my knee through my pants. I get hurt too often on these trips. I caught up with the other two, who were staring into the lower level of the complex.

"Hey, you okay there?" said Alia.

"Yeah, just a scraped knee, as usual. What are you guys looking at?" I replied.

"Well, we're stuck." Isaac chimed.

"More specifically, we don't exactly know how to get down"

I shone my light down into the lower level. It was a bit of a way down, about 10 meters. No way we could jump. I looked over on the other side of the factory, and found three cables hanging down from the roof right in front of me.

"Hey, I think we found our ride." I said, nudging Alia. I grabbed on one of the cables and stuck my flashlight in my mouth. I hugged the cable, closing my eyes and sliding down. It seemed strangely worn, as if it had been used for this multiple times. I attributed it to weathering. I felt my shoe touch the ground and I let go, landing on the solid concrete floor. I pointed my mouth at the upper level and gave Alia and Isaac a thumbs up.

Isaac slid down at an alarming pace, nearly breaking his leg from letting go too early. Alia took her time though, slowly shimmying down, eyes clamped shut. I waited, tapping my foot against the cold, polished concrete.

"You can let go now Alia." I said.

She opened her eyes and slowly placed her feet on the ground.

"Don't know why, but heights always freak me out. Not a good quality for an urban explorer."

"Don't worry about it, no one really _likes _heights."

"Hey! What about me?" Isaac wailed. "My love of heights is why I'm the climbing champ!"

"If you count falling off a 2 meter wall as being 'the climbing champ' then I guess so." I said, snickering.

I pointed my light over at Alia, who was walking to the other side of the factory. I followed her, and stopped when we reached a big, gaping elevator shaft. I felt the icy cold draft of air flowing from it against my face, I didn't need to look to know that it was deep.

"I hope you know that this is where our adventure ends." I said, stepping further away from the edge of the drop.

"Now hold on, I have a hunch that the elevator might still work." she replied.

"What?!" Isaac and I exclaimed.

"Okay, hear me out." Alia began, turning towards both of us. "An unusual amount of things in this place are worn out and smooth. The cables, the floor, _and_ if you look closely, the tracks on the shaft. So, I'm going to try something."

She moved to a panel on the right side of the shaft and inspected the buttons. Alia knelt down and knocked off the cover of the panel and pulled a screwdriver from her jacket. She hit it against a large red button, and then stood up, waiting. The stillness of the night was abruptly broken by a deep mechanical rumble from the depths of the factory. The elevator rose to the current level and stopped. The door rose open, the metal slats moving erratically. Alia spun around on her foot and looked at us smugly.

"Okay, I get it. But don't you think that riding in a rusty old elevator is just a _little _dangerous?" I said as she strode on in.

"Sure, but isn't everything we've been doing a _little _dangerous?"

I groaned and followed her in. I really did trust her, she was right about it still working. Isaac gleefully entered with us, and Alia selected a button from the panel inside the lift. The metal groaned and ground against the tracks as the door descended over the opening and the elevator sank past ground level. The temperature noticeably dropped as we descended, my breath was a thick vapor in front of me, as was Alia's an Isaac's.

"It's really, really cold in here." I said, shivering.

"No argument there. I'm freezing." Isaac replied, rubbing his hands together.

Alia laughed. "Aren't you guys from Canada? Isn't it cold _all the time_ there?"

"Yeah, but we didn't take trips to underground factories every day."

I shivered at the oppressive cold that loomed around us, and my heart jumped when the elevator halted abruptly. The door slid open, revealing another door, which parted and revealed a large, hollow room. Wires and circuitry hung from the walls, casting eerie shadows across the room. Alia stepped forward, out of the lift, walking towards to the center of the room. A dim humming came from below the floor and Alia stopped. The hum grew louder as a cylinder rose out of the floor, bathing the room in a brilliant white light. One more cylinder rose from the base, inside the first, and the machine stood tall above Alia, iridescent golden stripes lining the black metal. We gazed upon it, with only the idle hum of the contraption providing noise.

"Whoa." Alia said, her words echoing through the room.

A switch popped out from a panel, it's handle set upward. I stepped up next to Alia, and Isaac followed behind me. We stared at the switch for a while, unsure of what to say.

"Should we… should we pull it?" I said before recoiling at such a terrible suggestion.

"I almost want to." Alia said, to my shock. We didn't even know what this thing does and she wants to mess around with it?

"This is crazy. Absolutely insane."

"There's no way I'm gonna turn that thing on, it's probably a bomb or a nuclear reactor or something crazy like that." Isaac commented as he walked around the room.

I gaped at the machine, wondering if anyone even knew it was here. Someone _must_ know it's here, it's huge. Alia pulled out her camera and snapped a few photos of the eerie contraption looming above us, before looking around to find the next passage to explore.

"Hey, look what I found!" Said Isaac, pointing to the rightmost wall. A ladder protruded from it, the worn silver rungs reflecting the light. Alia began to ascend the ladder. Isaac followed behind, shoes rhythmically clanking on the metal. I began to follow, cautiously watching the machine to make sure nothing bad would happen, and I ascended the rungs quietly. The room we had entered was just as cavernous and as the room below, but this time, with no light aside from our torches.

Alia snapped picture after picture, and Isaac went about finding every thing there was to find in this place. I found a dusty chair sitting just behind a large piece of machinery stretching from the ceiling and ending in front of me. I sat in it and inspected the machinery, which had a computer monitor and a keyboard at the end.

"I think this might be the old control center of the factory." I said, wiping off the dust from the screens. Alia and Isaac walked over and looked with me.

"That's so cool." Alia mumbled, blinding me with the flash on her camera.

"It's a wonder this place is still intact after so long." I mused, inspecting the ceiling and walls, the wires and cables hanging like thick vines. The shadows flitted about the room erratically, making weird shapes. A high-pitched ringing made me jump in the seat, and I jerked my head towards Alia. She held up her phone, which displayed the time, midnight.

"Time to go back."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Morning**

I woke up in my dorm room, mouth dry as a desert and still in my clothes from last night. I sat up and looked at my clock across the room, it read 6:50. The alarm hadn't gone off yet and Isaac was still out cold on his bed. I sat up and stretched, squinting at the autumn light seeping through the window. The clock went off as I dressed myself in clothes that smelled less like factory, making Isaac turn over and groan.

"It's seven already?", he muttered while rubbing his eyes.

"You bet, and we have math first thing, so better get a move on."

Isaac groaned even louder and buried his face in his pillow. He was my neighbor for years in Quebec, and he was _always _like this in the morning. Groggy and irritable. Eventually, I wrestled him out of bed and we walked to our class.

It was early fall, the air was cool and the leaves changing color. Isaac still sleepily shambled next to me, probably not paying as much attention as I was, because he ran straight into one of the upperclassmen.

"Watch where you're going DuBois!" he yelled angrily. Isaac muttered an apology and kept moving along, the upperclassmen's stare boring a hole in the back of our heads.

"You really shouldn't piss that guy off Isaac." I said.

"Well he was in my way."

"Fine, but if he beats you up or something it's not my fault."

Isaac opened his mouth to contradict me, but was cut short by Alia clapping her hands on our shoulders.

"Hey you guys! What's going down?" she said excitedly.

"Nothing exciting, mostly mentally preparing for the day. You?" I replied.

"Just gonna prepare some photos for the world wide web! This one's my favorite." she said, handing me a photo. It was a picture of me in the factory chair, squinting at the sudden flash of light in the photo. I laughed and handed it back. I glanced at my watch and it was time for class. I turned on my foot and told them goodbye as I walked to my first class.

I barely managed to stay conscious in math, history was always a difficult task, and gym was same as ever, good old Jim still teaching after all these years. The last class was science, the only class I had with both Alia and Isaac. I sat down and waited for class to start. A hand tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Isaac.

"We have a substitute today! You know what that means?"

"You don't have to pay attention as much?"

He gleefully nodded and sat in his seat. I looked back at the front of the room. Instead of our usual teacher, it was a tall, slender man with thick round glasses. He cleared his throat and spoke to the class.

"Good afternoon, your usual teacher couldn't be here today, so I'm taking her place. My name is Mr. Schaeffer and I'm here to teach the tech portion of your course. More specifically, programming." he said in a flat voice. He took attendance, then began to write on the board. His lecture became long and detailed, the once simple functions on the board becoming longer and longer. He interspersed the lesson with his own personal stories.

"A fun fact, I used to go to Kadic! And I graduated as the valedictorian, believe me, it wasn't easy. There was a lot of stuff in my way."

I appreciated his attempt to keep us interested, but he wasn't exactly the best teacher. No one was really listening. But he was smart, I'll give him that.

"Yes, Miss Sherazi?" Mr. Schaeffer said unexpectedly.

Alia lowered her hand and spoke, "You said you went to Kadic, right?"

"Yes, about 10 years ago, why?"

"Well, I wanted to know if you knew anything about that factory."

Mr. Schaeffer stopped writing and looked at Alia.

"I'm sorry?"

"That factory outside the school. The abandoned car factory with the bridge? Do you know anything about that?"

"Um, I- It was definitely the source of some rumors around the school but no Miss Sherazi, I wasn't directly involved with it in any way. And you shouldn't be playing around abandoned buildings anyways. It's dangerous."

Mr. Schaeffer returned to the lecture, slightly paler than he was before. I looked over at Alia and saw that her eyes were narrowed and she was writing something down.

I lingered around the doorway at the end of class, waiting for Alia. Isaac stood next to me, and we watched the room clear out. Once vacated, I heard Mr. Schaeffer.

"Miss Sherazi? A word if I may."

* * *

I was two steps away from slipping out the door when Mr. Schaeffer spoke.

"Miss Sherazi?"

Damn. Thought I could get away this time. Oh well. Not the first time a teacher had to talk to me after class.

"Yes sir?"

"A word if I may."

"Certainly."

I stood across from the desk he sat in and stayed until he got up and shut the door. Mr. Schaeffer sat back down and looked up at me. He heaved a long sigh.

"Miss Sherazi, I hope you understand that the factory you mentioned is incredibly dangerous." he said in a low voice.

"I do."

"Did you go in?"

"Yes, only to the elevator."

"Listen to me. Whatever you do, do not go back there again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good, you can go."

I grabbed my bag and left. I had lied to him. I was going back and no one was gonna stop me. There was something up with that place and I was going to find out what. If he hadn't acted so weird about it I would've let it go, but now I had a real mystery to solve.

I skipped dinner and spent the rest of the day planning.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: This chapter is a bit shorter than I though it'd be, sorry about that!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Scared Stiff**

"Come on Alan, we're gonna be late for hockey practice!"

I rummaged through my closet, but to no avail.

"I'm looking, I'm looking."

Isaac sighed, growing impatient. I opened my mouth to tell him to calm down, but was stopped by a knock on the door.

I opened it up, and in the doorway stood Alia, adorned in her urban exploration gear.

"You guys care for another round of factory exploration?" she asked.

"Nope, we got hockey tonight." Isaac said.

"I can skip hockey this time. I'm just awake enough to go make sure she doesn't get hurt or anything. Besides, I can't find my breezers." I told them.

Alia beamed and stayed with me as I got ready. Isaac packed his skates and left, probably a little miffed that I blew off practice. I didn't worry about it. He wasn't the type of guy to stay angry over tiny things.

Alia and I snuck off school grounds and took the street to the factory. It still stood there, as vast and as empty as ever, but holding a mystery within.

"What's the plan?" I asked Alia.

"Well, we get in first. Then I'll tell you."

We secured our masks and traversed the bridge. Over the barricade and down the ropes. Alia was quicker going down, but still slow. Down the elevator and into the room with the big machine. I looked at Alia nervously.

"Are you gonna tell me now?"

Alia took in a deep breath. She exhaled and began, "I want to know what this thing does."

My eyes widened at her implication.

"Do you seriously mean you're going to turn it on?"

Alia nodded, looking to the side. I couldn't believe it. She was seriously considering turning on this giant machine just out of curiosity.

"That's insane, Alia."

"I know, I know. But hear me out Alan, I know it seems stupid, but I want you to understand my thought process."

"Alright."

"You know how weird Mr. Schaeffer acted, right? And it's normal to assume that's a good reason not to go back here, but I think he was hiding something. How does he know it's dangerous if he claims he's never been personally involved with it?"

"Maybe because abandoned buildings are generally unsafe?"

"But it can't be a coincidence that there's this giant mysterious machine down here too. And if he did lie about his involvement, which is entirely likely, the danger was either made up or not as severe as he made it out to be."

"But why would he not want us down here then?"

"Simple. He doesn't want us to find out his secret."

"You think it's like a big government secret or something?"

"Well, there's one way to find out." She pointed to the handle on the machine.

A bead of sweat trickled down my temple, despite the cold. My heart pounded in my chest so loudly, I'm sure Alia heard it. I glanced at her, she looked at me with a nervous face. I could barely believe the words that came out of my mouth.

"Okay, let's do it."

She nodded and we both set our hands on the lever.

"3, 2, 1..."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Golly, I haven't updated this in a long time. Sorry!**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Frontier**

The machine hummed to life and sent off a wave of heat. Our hair blew back in the sudden wake of energy. I turned my head to Alia and she smiled. We weren't dead and I guess that counted as a win.

"Let's go upstairs," she said, turning on her foot, heading towards the steel ladder. A soft yellow light glowed through the opening at the ceiling. I followed her up and was caught by surprise. There was a new room we skipped over the first time. Smaller than the one below, there were three metal tubes in a circle, attached to the ceiling and floor by thick wires.

"What do you think this room is?" I asked, bewildered by the endless odd contraptions present in this factory.

"What if it's some crazy scientist's laboratory?"

"At this point that sounds like a reasonable guess."

I stepped inside one of the tubes, admittedly not the best idea, but probably the safest thing I'd done that night. I put my hand against the interior of the tube, the metal was ice cold. I could see Alia shifting nervously outside, so I stepped out.

"Let's check the upper room."

I followed her up the ladder into the room with the chair. The room was bathed in pale blue light from the computer screen and a large 3D display in the middle of the room. My mouth hung open at how impressive the room was, now that all the machinery was alive.

"Alright, time for theories," Alia said, thoughtfully examining the room. "I think it's an abandoned government research project that Mr. Schaeffer was involved in. He's a secret agent." I laughed. The idea of a lanky science teacher being a government agent was kind of funny.

"Well what if he's actually a mad scientist and we stumbled upon his laboratory?"

"That sounds like something Isaac would say."

"Somebody's got to fill the space."

I sat in the chair in front of the computer screen. A dusty headset clung to the upper corner, and several notes were stuck to the edges of the screen. The computer emitted a soft blue light and I looked at the windows that had opened. A map, a window with a text box and a bunch of code, and a window labeled 'Transfer'.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," said Alia, looking over my shoulder.

"You said it. What the hell is a Lyoko?"

"Maybe it's the 3D thing?" she said, gesturing to the weird display in the center of the room.

I could feel my heart beating in my chest. This was such a big discovery and we had no idea what to do with it.

I turned to Alia. "What do we do with all of this? Do we call the police or something?" I said, a bit of panic showing in my voice. She swallowed and tugged at her jacket sleeves.

"I don't think we should. We'll get in trouble or get arrested," she answered in a low voice.

"Okay, then do we keep the machine on or do we turn it off?"

It was silent for a very long time. Finally, Alia said something.

"I don't know."

"Then we'll turn it off. No sense in wasting power, right?"

She nodded and followed me to the lowest room. The machine still hummed and glowed, making the room warmer as each minute passed. We walked to the front panel and the switch popped out. I set my hand on the handle and pulled downward. I heard a click, but the machine didn't seem to turn off. The lights were still on and there was still heat emanating from it. I cocked my head and pulled down on the switch a few more times. Nothing.

Alia grabbed my shoulder. "Just leave it. Maybe it needs to cool down before it shuts off completely. Besides, it's getting a little late," she said.

We took the elevator back up and took the streets back to school. The streetlamps lit the sidewalk as we walked.

"Is everything alright Alia?" I asked.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets. "I'm just anxious is all," she mumbled.

"How come?"

"I've found a lot of stuff doing urban exportation, but nothing like this. And I don't know what to do. And it's nearly impossible to try to figure out it's purpose."

"Well, let's consider our options. We can ask Mr. Schaeffer-"

"Nope."

"-try to figure it out by using the computer thing, or search the factory itself for any information."

We reached the front gate of the school. Alia and I had begun to perfect the art of slipping by Jim at night, and tonight was successful. We parted at the staircase.

"Fill Isaac in. Tell him what the plan is," said Alia.

"Can do, Sherazi."

* * *

"Finally, I can go home," I said out loud. What a day. Seven science classes and only 30 minutes for lunch. Not to mention how loud every class was. I packed my papers and laptop in my briefcase and headed out the door of the building. It was a nice autumn night, the air was cool and a soft breeze bit through my shirt.

I walked to my car and rummaged for my keys in my pockets. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw two figures running in between the bushes. I shook it off. Long day at work.

The moon lit the sky nicely as I pulled out of the school property. I turned and started driving. My eyes focused on the road, I tried to keep myself awake. I passed the factory. I felt my heart sink and my stomach churned. I really hoped that kid didn't find the supercomputer. Much less actually turn it on. I shuddered at the thought. I couldn't deal with XANA again, I don't think my heart could actually take it.

I gripped the steering wheel and waited for the feeling to pass. It stayed with me as I pulled into the lot outside my apartment.

My hands shook slightly as I looked for my key. I opened the door and walked in. I set my briefcase on the table and sat down. My mouth felt dry.

"Jeremie, are you okay?"

I looked up at Aelita, standing in the doorway. I nodded.

"Do you need me to get you anything?"

I swallowed. "Some water and my medicine, please."

She left and returned with a mug and a pill bottle.

"Did something happen at work today?"

I swallowed two pills and took a long sip of water.

"I'll tell you later, okay?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A Mistake**

I woke up the next morning to the loud buzzing of my phone. My head pounded as I sat up to turn it off. My tongue felt like sandpaper. I stood up and began to look through my desk for some headache medicine. My phone buzzed again. It was a text from Alan.

_"are you even up yet? class is going to start pretty soon"_

Damn. I didn't even think to look at the time. It was nearly 8. Maybe my alarm wasn't working right again.

I sat in the chair to my desk and sighed. I texted him back. My head hurt too much to do anything school-related, so I got dressed and sleepily shambled to the infirmary.

* * *

I read the text off as Isaac and I walked. "Guess she's not going to class today," I said.

"That sucks. Maybe we'll see her at lunch?"

"Maybe."

"So run it by me again, what was the thing in the factory?"

"I don't know, Isaac. And keep your voice down, we could get in trouble," I snapped.

His voice lowered to a whisper. "Ohhhh, okay. Got it."

I stared straight ahead and sighed. Everything about the factory and Mr. Schaeffer worried me. And Alia being sick was a bad sign as well. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I kept worrying.

"Something wrong?" asked Isaac.

"No."

"I know you're lying. I've known you for too long and that's your lying voice."

I smiled. "And how do you think you're gonna help? Telling a stupid joke?"

"Maybe."

I playfully shoved him and he laughed. We parted at the science building and went to our classes. Same routine, different day. Starting with Math and ending with Science.

I sat down with Isaac at lunch. I prodded at my plate absentmindedly.

"_Still _worrying about Alia?" Isaac asked between bites of food.

"Well, yeah."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "She's fiiiiine, you don't need to worry so much."

"Pfft, easy for you to say," said Alia, abruptly sitting down next to him. "Headaches suck." I smiled at Isaac.

"So what did you guys find in the factory, huh? Something worth missing hockey practice for?" Isaac asked with excitement, quickly quelled by Alia and I putting our fingers to our lips.

"I told you, we found a big computer, that's it. We didn't know what it did and we turned it off," I said, quickly scanning the room for Mr. Schaeffer.

"Wait, Alan, you left out the room with the tubes?"

"Huh? Oh! Right, and there was this room with these big metal tubes and all these wires, it was really weird."

Isaac pouted slightly, "Man, that does sound like it was worth missing hockey practice for."

"Hey, your decision, not mine."

Abruptly, the lights began to flicker, and then went out. A couple kids screamed, much to the dismay of Jim, who presided over the lunch room.

"Alright, alright everybody. It was just a power failure, no reason to scream your lungs out," he bellowed, "just get going to your classes while we fix the problem."

"Huh, weird," said Alia as we walked out.

* * *

It didn't take them long to get the power back up. Great for Mr. Schaeffer, because the next class had us using computers.

"Good afternoon, everybody! Once again, I'm your substitute teacher and today we're going to be doing some simple programming, and I'll be here to help you," he began, gesturing at the computers in front of us, all with a basic coding program open. He droned on and on about something I couldn't remember, everybody merely copying what he wrote on the blackboard. I glanced over at Isaac. He was napping on his keyboard, blonde hair getting stuck in between the keys, Alia snickered and prodded his head.

I looked back up at the front of the room, and Mr. Schaeffer was still blathering on. The class began to mutter something, several kids pointing at their screens and whispering to each other. I perked up, looking at my own screen. The window I had been working in closed out, and as I opened my mouth to groan at all the work I lost, the screen flickered and blacked out. A red symbol appeared, like a target. Static crackled from the speakers. Isaac lifted his head to look.

Mr. Schaeffer turned around. "What's all this noise about?" he asked. A student pointed to her screen and asked him to look. He rolled his eyes and walked over.

The blood drained from his face. Alia and Isaac looked at me worriedly. He stood up and looked at the other computers, all displaying the same red symbol. His hands shook slightly as he fixed his glasses.

"I-I have t-to go," he stammered before sprinting out of the classroom. Everyone looked at each other and started talking about how crazy he was and how he's probably going to get fired.

Alia stood up.

"We gotta follow him," she said starting to run.

"Hey, wait!" I exclaimed, running after her. I could see Mr. Schaeffer rounding a corner in the hallway, Alia in close pursuit, yelling for him to stop and explain.

I sure hope we didn't make a big mistake.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Whoa! I haven't updated since February? Sorry about that, good thing I had chapter 6 all ready to go!**

**Thanks for being patient!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**I Hope We're Not Gonna Regret This**

The world blurred around me as I ran, I could only hear my heart frantically beating and muffled yelling. My feet pounded against the concrete as I bolted through the courtyard and past the gate. I felt my heart beat in my throat, reminding me that I really shouldn't be running so fast given my condition, but I was was too swamped with panic to care.

It's my fault, I thought to myself. It's my fault that XANA is back. I wasn't smart enough to beat him, I should've known that. A car screeched to a stop next to me, it's horn blaring. I stopped and looked at the driver, his face twisted into a snarl, screaming expletives at me. I could hear yelling behind me. I sprinted down the sidewalk, weaving in between pedestrians, sweat beginning to drip from my brow. I forgot how long I ran, but it seemed like an eternity until I reached the bridge to the factory. The building loomed above as I jogged and hurriedly climbed over the barricade. I felt my pant leg tear on one of the barriers, and I groaned internally. I'm gonna have to buy new ones now, like that was the biggest problem. I swung down to the lower level on the cable, landing off-balance. The kids behind me shouted my name, and I swung my head in that direction. Two of them stood on the upper level, panting from all the running.

"Mr. Schaeffer, please. Just wait," the auburn haired boy wheezed. The black haired girl, Alia I think, looked at me with a pleading expression. I turned away and ran into the elevator, frantically hitting the button to descend. The door shut just as the two began to climb down on the cables. I leaned on the back wall of the lift, clutching my pounding heart. Maybe nothing was really wrong. Maybe the computer wasn't actually on again and I had imagined the whole thing. But my heart sank when the door opened and the whole room was aglow with light, the computer beeping on and off, a superscan warning. I tried to walk towards the chair, but stumbled. My knees buckled and I landed next to the computer monitor. My heart pounded through my chest as I pulled my phone from my pocket, dialing Aelita.

"Hello? Jeremie, is everything alright?"

"Aelita, I need you to come to the factory as soon as possible and I need you to bring my medicine," I choked out, gasping for air.

"Jeremie? I'll be there as soon as possible, do not hang up. What happened?"

I gasped and groaned, my heart refusing to stop beating so quickly. The elevator doors opened, and the two kids stood inside.

"Mr. Schaeffer!"

They ran over to me, crouching down. The redhead grabbed my wrist and took my pulse, then felt my forehead. He said something to Alia and set his hands on my shoulders.

"Mr. Schaeffer, can you talk?"

I nodded and squeaked out a 'yes'. I handed him my cell phone and said, "that's my wife, her name is Aelita. She's coming with my medicine." He took the phone and held it to his ear.

"Aelita Schaeffer, hi, this is one of Mr. Schaeffer's students, Alan Campbell. We don't really know what happened to him, but we're gonna assume that it has something to do with this factory."

"Okay, I'm only a few minutes away, keep checking on his heart rate and keep him breathing regular."

"You got it."

He handed the phone back to me and looked at his watch, timing my heartbeat. I could barely hear Aelita through the phone, and my vision was starting to blur.

"Breathe, Mr. Schaeffer. Breathe. Slowly."

I sucked in a breath and let it out as gradually as I could. In. Out. In. Out. I had gotten the hang of it, right up until I heard one of them yell.

"What the _hell_ is that?"

I strained my eyes to look, and was met with the image of a black, hazy spectre looming over the two other kids. I inhaled sharply and shuffled backwards, bumping my back against the computer chair. Both of the kids gaped at the ghostly haze, backing away. The spectre hovered above the three of us for several seconds, then abruptly dissipated away into the vents.

"W-what, was that thing?" Alia stammered, shaking slightly.

I swallowed and croaked. "It's called a spectre, and it's not a good thing."

The door to the elevator screeched open, Alia swinging her head and jumping back. Aelita ran out from the lift, a bottle of medicine in hand, and knelt down next to me. I swallowed two pills and exhaled in relief.

Aelita wrapped her arms around me, then pulled away, holding my shoulders. "What were you thinking Jeremie? You know you can't be running around and stressing your heart out, you're going to kill yourself!"

"I know, I know. I'll be more careful next ti-"

"Alright, someone better start explaining what's going on," Alia interrupted, clearly shaken.

"Jeremie, who are these kids?"

"Some of my students, they ran after me, I think they were worried. That kid helped me while you were coming."

Alan frowned slightly, probably at my inability to remember his name at the time. Aelita set a hand on his shoulder.

"You did a fine job… Alan, right?" He nodded, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Okay," Alia began, "any explanation would be great. What on earth is going on he-" She was interrupted by a loud, tinny melody coming from Alan's pocket. He pulled his cell phone out and answered. The caller sounded panicked and talked quickly and loudly to Alan. I only gathered small bits of what he replied with.

"What? Okay man slow down, what's happening?" Alan said, the color beginning to drain from his face. "Okay, okay, just calm down. Find Jim or something and just stay safe. Call the cops. You'll be okay."

He hung up and turned to Alia. "Something's happening at Kadic, Isaac's in trouble. Something about the whole school going haywire, lights breaking and it's getting dangerous." I turned to Aelita, and both our looks said the same thing: XANA.

Alia stepped up to the both of us, a look of frustration set on her face. "Okay, explain yourselves. Now. Or I'm calling the police." I saw Alan widen his eyes at her threat.

I looked at Aelita and shrugged my shoulders. We might as well.


End file.
